As the campaign for the continuity
of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 begin to take shape, observers like me
are dismayed at the dimension it is taking.
Let us recall that since Buhari
joined partisan politics in 2003 his support base has been the ordinary people,
especially those of Northern extraction. Northerners, and indeed Nigerians
supported Buhari for a number of reasons. One, he was once a head of state and
his no-nonsense leadership style of those days is highly needed now that
indiscipline is even more entrenched in our public life. Second, Buhari has
never been associated with corruption. This is someone who was a Governor, a
minister, a head of state and a PTF chairman and could challenge his political
opponent who was a serving president to investigate him from the beginning and
never forgive him if found guilty of corruption. Thirdly, my dear, Buhari won
the support of Nigerians because of his truthfulness. Buhari is not hypocritical
when it comes to issues. For example, in February 2000 Buhari was the lone
voice against the false claim that National council of state had decided to
suspend Sharia following the Kaduna crisis.
These qualities were all that Buhari
needed to get the support of Northerners whose love for justice is due to their
religious belief. Even when in 2015 Obasanjo and his friends wanted to unseat
Jonathan they did not go for Buhari because he was a nationalist. He, everyone
knew, was the only politician who had the massive grassroots support needed to
unseat a sitting president. As a matter of fact, it is well known that Buhari
was not declared a winner in 2003, 2007 and 2011 due to PDP rigging but not
because he lost those elections.
Buhari has now been the president
for three years and although there have been some disenchantments, the love
Buhari enjoys among his people is still there. What is needed is explanation on
why things did not happen as expected. Why, for instance, are the
south-westerners said to be the people benefitting more from the programmes of
this administration even though the number of votes they gave is nothing
compared to what he got from us? Apart from the improvement in power supply (we
must give that credit to Buhari) which is benefitted by all Nigerians, what
else do Buhari’s people (I mean the people of Katsina state) have to show in
terms of development for these three years? Why are Buhari’s people
(North-westerners) being killed, day in day out, by bandits and other criminals
with no solution in sight from the Government they religiously voted? What is
Mr. President doing about the problem of begging in Northern Nigeria? Why is
Buhari not even mentioning almajiris when his predecessor who is not a Muslim
built schools for them? Many thought that a Buhari regime will improve on those
schools and establish more. There are many more questions in need of answers.
As the rest of us are waiting for
explanation or at worst a mum, I m particularly disappointed at the kind of
things coming from the Government and her social media campaigners. Last week,
for example, many newspapers bore various headlines like, ‘Good News: FG
Declares Tuition FREE At All Federal Universities In Nigeria’, ‘Beware that
tuition fee is now illegal in Federal Universities’, etc. My God! As someone
who has been in a Federal University for almost a half of my short life I know
that tuition has been free in Federal universities from the beginning. My
parents did not pay for me and I m not paying for my children. My students are
not paying. Why then present the issue as if tuition fees were being paid and
the Government of the day is now banning it? This is exactly the picture given
by one of my Facebook pals and I quickly keyed in a comment telling him that tuition
has always been free for Nigerians in Federal Universities. Instead of this
propaganda what we expect from the Government is an explanation on why this
year’s budgetary allocation to Education is one of the lowest. What is the
Government doing to improve primary education and make it qualitative and
affordable to all Nigerians? Why are our polytechnics and colleges of education
no longer attractive and what is the Government doing about it? There is a lot
of work to do in the education sector for any Government that is serious.
Of course, not all the lies being
spread to sell our beloved president are coming from the Government. A lot of
lies are circulated in the social media in the name of campaign for PMB. Last
week, after travelling from Kano to Jibia and back, covering a little more than
400 kilometers (note that Jibia is farther from Kano than Katsina) I opened my
Facebook account only to see a post being circulated that work on the 250 km
Katsina to Kano expressway is now more than 60 %. I was shocked. The distance
between the Kano and Katsina ends (Dawanau and Dandagoro) of the road is only
about 160 km and of that the work has covered only about 22 km. The level of
falsehood in that post is better imagined and it is meant to promote PMB, a man
we supported and campaigned for free of charge because of truth and trust.
Sadly, even some of our royal
fathers are involved. A case in point is the comment by the Emir of Katsina
when Buhari paid him a condolence visit on the death of Liman Lawal last week.
The emir was quoted to have said that the killings taking place around the
country are sponsored by people who do not want Buhari to continue after 2019.
As I read it in the Nation newspaper, I wondered what some of our traditional
rulers are up to. In particular, Katsina emirate has been having its own share
of banditry even before Buhari came to power in 2015. What explanations does
his royal highness have for that? What we expected from the emir is an advice
to the President on how to curb banditry particularly in Katsina and the
neighbouring Zamfara. After the killing of over 40 travellers in Zamfara three
months ago, the emir of Zurmi who is of a lower status openly gave the
Government information on the bandits’ location. I thought the emir of Katsina
will add to that and insist on action by the Government.
As politicking for various offices
continue, I would like to call on PMB to stop the lies as they cannot give what
truth has not achieved. Whether he spends four or eight years in office he will
one day leave it somehow and eventually stand before his creator who will ask
him about his responsibilities as the Nigerian President, especially the
primary one of protecting lives and property.
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